


Salvaged

by dangerbirb



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Androids, Blood and Injury, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Friendship/Love, Hetalia Countries Using Human Names, Historical Hetalia, Human & Country Names Used (Hetalia), Hurt/Comfort, I Tried, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Minor America/Japan (Hetalia), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, ludwig takes care of OC, possible historical innacuracies, spoiler alert they're both baby
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:13:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22556134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dangerbirb/pseuds/dangerbirb
Summary: 1953- Germany is now occupied and controlled by the Allies, and Ludwig finds himself struggling for purpose. With him staying on the western side and Gilbert in the east with Ivan, guilt and isolation pry into every aspect of his life. Alfred is the person to visit him most often, his boisterous and energetic attitude a nuisance to him, until he brings Ludwig something he genuinely finds interest in.
Kudos: 8





	1. PROLOGUE: bare(ly)

**Author's Note:**

> CONTENT WARNING
> 
> This story mentions aspects and events that took place during and after World War 2, a setting that's pretty sensitive and difficult to portray respectfully. I do not by any means wish to lighten the crimes committed by the nations or peoples involved, or take a stance regarding the politics of WW2. I condemn hatefulness in all of its forms throughout history. My only desire is to portray the characters as I see them. 
> 
> If you feel any of these writings are insensitive or in poor tastes, please let me know and I will try my best to correct my error. I'm not perfect, but I'll try my best to be respectful in the first place.

_**HIROSHIMA, JAPAN 1953** _

Alfred’s feet crunched the rubble beneath him, the ash in the air blowing and catching in his hair. He didn’t pay any attention to it. His eyes were fixed on the destroyed and crushed valley ahead of him.

Completely devoid of life. 

A haunted battleground where none fought, but all _lost._

Alfred tried to imagine where things were, how it all disappeared so _fast_ , as if a wave of death simply fell across it, instantaneous and horrid. 

He’d been here before, he’d seen it before. He knew what happened. 

It just didn’t make _sense._

Over and over he’d come here and sheer bewilderment would dominate his thoughts, making his inner dialogue so overactive that it became white noise. 

His thoughts became everything, and simultaneously nothing. 

_Everything and simultaneously nothing,_ Alfred thought, staring still.

“Jones! We’re starting cleanup right here.” 

The general’s words cut through his thoughts. He turned to look at the grey-haired man standing over another area of ruins, along with several soldiers. 

_That spot was a schoolyard_ , he thinks. 

“Got it. I’ll join you in a minute.” Alfred responds, staying put where he stood. 

He looked out at the valley once more.

Carrying on had never felt so impossible. 


	2. troubleshooting

_ “Hey, Lutz, I’ve got something for ya!”  _

_ “Alfred, I’m not hungry.”  _

_ “No, no it’s not food this time, I swear!”  _

_ “I don’t want to watch a movie.”  _

_ “No, c’mon, that’s not it!” _

_ “What is it then?” _

_ “I brought you some parts; I found them in Japan and I know you like mechanics, I thought maybe you’d enjoy putting them together.”  _

_ “I see. Would you like me to assemble them for you?” _

_ “Well, sure, It’d be cool to see it, but I brought them because I thought… I thought you’d like it.” _

_ “Oh. Well thank you.” _

_ “Yeah, no problem! Let me know how it goes, or if you need anything.” _

_ “Sure. See you Alfred.” _

* * *

Ludwig worked for days on end, tinkering and assembling the pieces. Sure enough, days turned into weeks, and he found himself using all of his free time working on the parts Alfred found. He began to figure that the machine was some sort of android, something he’d only thought to exist in works of fiction. The parts turned into limbs of complex circuitry, into synthetic organs. 

It was also… relaxing to be given something to do again; the inactivity was driving Ludwig to madness, stuck thinking about Gilbert, or Ivan, or the camps, or the _nazis._

To say it was unpleasant was an understatement. 

After about two months, however, he’d completed the project. 

Ludwig looked over the machine resembling a young girl, no older than eight. He had it sitting up against the metal lab table and the back wall of the room. Due to Ludwig’s prudish nature, he couldn’t help but to dress it in a large shirt of his, tied up at the back like a bath towel. 

It wasn’t a girl; he knew that. There was no point in giving it clothes. 

But he just couldn’t stomach having something around that looked like a person being  _ naked.  _ It was  _ weird.  _

It was missing only her shoulder plating to cover the circuitry underneath. 

He carefully lifted the plating, placing it over the shoulders, and then removed the cable from the back of her head, taking it off standby. 

The clockwork and functioning parts could suddenly be heard from the robot girl. The eyes slowly opened. The deep brown opticals adjusted for a moment. All the while, Ludwig waited for some kind of movement, or responsiveness.

The powerful mechanical hands suddenly jolted forwards to his throat, and Ludwig sputtered as he was quickly shoved against the wall from the weight. He tried ripping the small, strong hands off of him as they cut off his breathing. He looked down at the machine, who had an angry and scared look on its face. 

“Stay away, don’t touch me!” She said in her native tongue. 

She stayed focused on her target, determined to fight off whoever woke her. 

Before she could continue for much longer, she suddenly recalled images of a blonde, blue eyed man repairing her, piece by piece. 

_ “The same blonde man I’m choking!”  _ She thought, quickly releasing Ludwig and landing on her feet on the floor. 

He was close to losing consciousness, but he fell to his knees, sputtering and coughing a few times. He dizzily looked up to the little robot, who had a horrified look on her face. 

“I’m so stupid… I-”

She was going to continue apologizing when she realized that he didn’t understand her. She quickly looked around to detect a language to speak in.

_ Scanning… _

_ “Robotik” detected. Language; Deutsch.  _

_ Activating language disc… _

In nearly a few milliseconds, she switched to German.

“I’m sorry!” she said, kneeling down next to the large man. “I injured you…” She said sadly, staring at the red bruises on his neck. 

_ “He saved you… you’re awful…” _ A voice sneered in her mind.

_ Error: 90875 _

Ludwig groaned and rubbed his neck. 

“It’s fine…” He sputtered, trying to stand up and use the table as support. 

The girl’s mind continued to belittle her, the single voice turning to several. 

_ “You tried to kill him!” _

_ “He’s probably scared of you.” _

_ “No- he probably  _ **_hates_ ** _ you.”  _

_ Error: 90876 _

_ “Why on earth would he want to keep you around if even father didn’t?” _

“No…” She muttered to herself. 

“What was that?” Ludwig asked, kneeling down next to her to hear her better. 

She latched onto Ludwig, burying her face in his chest. “I’m sorry! I didn't mean to do anything wrong, so please don’t send me away! I don’t want to go!” 

Ludwig couldn’t even begin to register what she was talking about before her systems short circuited and she was asleep again, her body weighing Ludwig to fall onto his back. 

Ludwig lay frozen for a moment, his brain not yet having caught up to his situation.

_ “What…?”  _

Ludwig carefully lifted himself off the ground along with the robot, and placed it back onto the table. He ran a hand through his hair slowly, trying to figure out what to do next. He took out his notepad and pen. 

_ “Okay, okay. What happened that I could understand?”  _

He clicked the pen. 

**_Woke up normally;_ **

_ and tried to kill me… _

**_Was responsive_ **

_ Then desperately apologizing… _

**_Speaking software functional, Language adaptation functional_ **

_ Begging for me to not send her away... _

_ Then she shorted out. _

**_Possible software error; consult memory chip and power_ **

He closed the notepad, and turned to the android again. He noticed that the android’s chest was rising and falling… 

_ “It breathes…? _

_ Why would someone make an android that looked and acted so human during a war like this one? One so realistic that the average person would think that it was a real girl?” _

Ludwig dropped down into his chair and continued to think.

So far, by repairing the android, he'd discovered that someone in Japan had managed to develop very powerful technology; To replicate every physical aspect of a little girl... 

_ Its skin is soft, it has a heartbeat, its eyes don’t even look like optical sensors, its hair doesn’t feel synthetic, and the voice is flawless.  _

Her behavioral advances are also rather chilling. 

_ “It begged me to not get rid of it or dispose of it…” _

Ludwig ran both hands through his hair, the unanswered questions frustrating him, and leaned back in his chair. 

“Let's see what went wrong.” He said to himself, getting up again and picking up his screwdriver.


	3. Here Now

He unplugged the wire from the android’s neck and sealed it. 

_ “It should be rebooting now…”  _ He thought, taking a few steps back this time. 

It opened its eyes and the opticals adjusted again. She leaned her head into her hand, slightly dazed. 

She turned around to see Ludwig standing with his glasses on, and the notepad in his hand, and took a sigh of relief. 

_ “He didn’t leave… thank goodness…”  _ She thought, smiling a tiny bit.

“Now before you do anything, I’d like to check your status.” Ludwig said, clicking his pen.

“Um, okay.” She said, hanging her legs over the table and swinging them.

Ludwig raised an eyebrow at the human, child-like behavior. 

“Is all of your hardware repaired and functional as far as you know?”

She looked confused. “What… what do you mean?”

“Are your parts repaired?” He said, narrowing his eyes confusedly. 

“Oh!” She said, her eyes widening in recognition. “Yes, all of my parts are working again, thank you!”

“No problem...” He said, still confused, as he quickly scribbled something down. 

**_Physical condition; good_ **

“Would you stand up straight on the floor below you?” 

She dropped to the floor, her feet landing with a soft thud.

“Good, take a few steps.” 

She paced around the table and returned to her spot.

He nodded and wrote something down. 

_**Motor software; functional** _

“Now on the table there are several kilogram weights that increase in weight by one. Lift them each one at a time, until you reach the number that is your physical limit.

“Okay.” 

She turned and lifted the one. Then the two. She reached the third, and had some trouble with it, straining to lift the weight.

“That’s okay, you can stop now.” Ludwig said, concerned as to why it didn’t seem to know how strong it was and what its limits were.

She nodded and turned to face him again. Ludwig was writing more notes. 

**_Strength level; average for a little girl this size_ **

“Can you read this clearly?” He said, taking out a flashcard.

“Yes, it says microchip.” 

“Now what can you see on this color palette?” He said holding up a different card.

“The number 3.”

**_Color and word recognition; online and functional_ **

“Okay, that’s it.” He said, closing his notebook. He looked up to see the robot girl yawning and rubbing her eyes. 

“Are you… tired?” He asked, thinking about how a machine could feel and express fatigue.

Her head snapped up and she shook her head. 

“No, I’m okay.” She said, rubbing her eyes.

“Do you need sleep? Is that one of your functions?” 

Her eyes were drooping again. Ludwig walked over and knelt down next to her. He examined the tired face, confused by her energy level.  _ Would sleep recharge it? _

It was then that Ludwig noticed that she had begun to fall forwards and he quickly caught her, making sure her sleeping form didn’t hit the floor. 

“Oh.” He said to himself. 

His mind blanked for a moment as he tried to think of what to do with a sleeping android, staring for almost a minute, and still at a loss.

* * *

The android shifted and woke up, feeling comfortable and warm. 

_ Where am I? _

She sat herself up, supporting her weight with her thin metallic arms, and looked around. She was in a room… a dimly lit room. There were windows behind her and the curtains let in a calm glow of the outside world. Then she looked down. She was in a bed. With blankets. A pillow. 

A smile crept up her face. It had never occurred to her how much she missed having a kind, warm bed to sleep in. 

_ “But what happened again?” _

She looked at the oversized grey T-shirt she wore that barely stayed on her shoulders.

_ “A man’s shirt?” _

She remembered the blonde man with the slightly frightening features who asked her questions. 

_ “That’s right…” _

She tightly wrapped the blankets around herself again. She didn’t want to question this new home. She missed her bed, she missed being fully repaired, she missed…

Her father…

Just then, the man walked by the room, and halted when he saw her awake. He walked in, standing with his hands behind his back. 

“Are you… recharged?” He asked. 

“I feel great, thank you.” She said, stretching her arms above her head.

“That’s good.” He said simply, staying in place. He looked at her sleepy, relaxed smile, and thought to himself for a moment. This was no mere android. 

She was sentient. 

The way she shuffled her hands, or swung her legs… She didn’t answer basic protocols or status checks properly. 

“I wish to ask you, do you know the reason you were built?” Ludwig said. 

The girl seemed rather startled by the question, and she looked down, twiddling her fingers. 

“Well… I… I don’t know…” She said finally. “My father built me a long time ago, and I had been living with him until he…” She stopped. 

“Until… what?” The man said, his features sharpening, scaring the girl somewhat. “What did he do?”

The girl shrunk back into the blankets before answering.

“Until… He decided to send me away.” Her eyes shifted sadly. 

He stared, a long silence sucking the air out of the room, and then he looked away, feeling a pang of guilt for prying at her. Especially after the war ended, he had been especially impatient with people. As he glanced at the girl’s dejected face, he never wished he would stop doing it as much as he did now. 

“Can I ask… What your name is?” She said shyly. 

He looked at her again. “Of course… my name is Ludwig. What is yours?”

She laid her hands down and the loose shirt draped over her hands. 

“Ludwig?” She said, testing the name. “My name is Yuki.”

“I see. Nice to meet you, Yuki.” He said. 

“Thank you…”

There was another moment of silence before the girl mustered up the courage to speak again. 

“May I… May I ask another question?” 

“...Yes.” He replied, curious to what information she wanted. 

“Why did you rebuild me?” 

His eyes shifted to the floor, seeming slightly challenged by her question. 

“I… I was given your damaged and disassembled body after it was found in Japan by a colleague of mine. He thought I could use something to keep myself busy… I’m currently… disabled…” He said, annoyed with the classification given to him. “I could use something to do with my time besides my therapy.”

“May I ask another?”

“Yes, but don’t bother asking to do that anymore.”

She nodded, her eyes wide. “What do you need therapy for?”

“I have injuries. I was politically and physically involved in the last war. They were rather… severe, I’m afraid.” He said, tugging at his collar to reveal the bandages running far down his torso and up to his neck.

“What happened?”

“I suffered 3rd degree burns, I had fractured bones, and I was… Impaled.”

“Wouldn’t those things kill you?”

“I…” He stopped, realizing he probably shouldn’t have discussed the extent of his injuries. 

“It’s complicated. I should be dead. Realistically.” He said, feeling irritated as he looked at his calloused hands. “I guess God isn’t finished with me yet.”

“Oh.” She said more quietly. 

She looked around the room and out into the long hallway. 

“You have a very nice house. Does anyone else live here?” 

He took a moment and his brows knitted together, remembering his scarlet eyed brother prancing through the halls of their old house and laughing at him. He would always interrupt his work with ‘Jeez you’re such a stick in the mud’ or ‘Do you never stop working?’ then he would run away and upset the political leaders… and then he remembered when… when… 

He looked back up at the little girl, waiting patiently for his answer and then he averted his eyes to his hands.

“Not anymore.” He said in a somewhat somber expression. 

Yuki looked at him as he painfully massaged his sore wrists before reluctantly speaking again. 

“Can I ask one more question?” 

“Yes, didn’t I tell you to stop asking permission?” He said, sounding more hopeless than irritated. 

“Sorry… but…” She paused, feeling knots in her stomach at the nervousness of asking this question. 

“Did you lose someone?” 

His eyes flicked up to meet hers, once again, seeming startled with her question. 

Just then, for the first time in his existence, Ludwig felt relief at hearing Alfred burst into the house, and then the room, carrying bags and yelling, ending the conversation he was having with the little girl. 

“Yo! Lutz! It’s me! How you been holding up-”

Alfred froze mid-sentence at sight of the android sitting in the bed, now looking very startled. 

The whole room was quiet as Alfred stared down the girl. 

“Uh… I’m so sorry— did I upset you I didn’t mean to do-” Yuki stammered, frightened by the jumpy American.

“LUDWIG IT’S SO CUTE!” Alfred yelled as he practically suffocated the android in a bone-crushing hug. 

“Wha-” The girl wheezed. 

“I’m glad.” Ludwig said dimly, switching to English at Alfred’s presence.

Alfred pulled away from the android and looked at her face wide-eyed. 

“You did a good job repairing her, she looks spotless…” 

“Thanks.” Ludwig said absently from the other side of the room while eyeballing his wristwatch.

“So you can talk and everything!?” Alfred cried excitedly. 

The girl stared at him for a moment, still dazed from the hug, before her instincts finally kicked in.

_ “Talk” detected. Language; English. _

She quickly made the switch. 

“Sorry, I didn’t catch that-”

“Woah, she does! And she switches to different languages…”

“Yes. I can speak many languages.”

“Awesome…” Alfred said, staring into the girl’s brown opticals. 

Yuki felt a rush of embarrassment at being ogled by this energetic man, and averted her eyes. 

“Oh sorry…” Alfred apologized, realizing he was making her uncomfortable. 

“That’s okay…” she said, smoothing a small bunch of her hair. 

Alfred smiled. "You got a name?" 

"Yes, my name is Yuki." She said, smiling a tiny bit. "What's yours?"

"I'm Alfred." He replied. "It's great to meet you!" 

Alfred held out his hand to her, and shook her small hand. 

"You too…" She said, his energetic bright blue eyes making her blush. 

"Hey Ludwig," Alfred started, turning towards him, "you should probably get her something better to wear than your shirts." 

Ludwig glanced at Yuki, her tiny body nearly swimming in the T-shirt. 

"That's not a bad point." He replied, noting that it was probably uncomfortable on her and  _ certainly  _ uncomfortable for him to see a little girl roaming around in  _ his  _ clothes. 

"I could bring Francis here to make her some stuff! I'm sure he's dying to put his fashion skills to use lately." Alfred said.

Ludwig raised his eyebrows and looked at Alfred dully. 

"Francis? He designs for 20 year old women; I don't think letting him pick something for a little kid would be smart."

Alfred chuckled and walked closer to him to keep their conversation hushed. 

"Come on, you don't think he can adjust for someone younger?" 

"I don't know Alfred." Ludwig muttered, glancing at Yuki. "If you want to tell him that bad then go for it, but for god's sake, don't let him make anything weird.”

“Got it.” Alfred said, smirking and shooting him finger guns. 

Ludwig responded with a weak, one handed finger gun, rolling his eyes. 

“Who is Francis?” Yuki chimed. 

Alfred turned around towards her. “He’s a buddy of ours who has a good sense of fashion. Want some new clothes?” 

Yuki looked down at the shirt covering her body, and then looked up at the two men standing in front of her who had already done a lot to help her. She thought about the effort it would take for them to pick or even design clothes for her, and inadvertently pulled the blankets closer to her. 

“That’s okay…” She said, blushing. 

Alfred smiled. “Aw, don’t worry about it, he loves picking outfits! you’re doing him a favor, I promise.”

Her gaze shifted and she couldn't help but to smile. “Alright.” She agreed, staying under the blankets. 

“Great!” Alfred said, pumping his fist and beaming. He turned to Ludwig. “I’ll send Francis over later.” 

“Yep.” Ludwig answered unenthusiastically, seeing that his house would be getting more visitors in one day than he’d ever prefer in a month. 


End file.
